IMG retains in-flight, in-ship Olympics rights

The IMG agency has acquired international in-flight and in-ship rights for the Pyeongchang Olympic winter Games next month and the Tokyo summer Games in 2020.

Under the deal with the International Olympic Committee, IMG will distribute live coverage, highlights and programming from the Olympic Games to international territories, excluding the US.

Coverage of the Pyeongchang Games, which will run from February 9-25, will be available on Sport 24 and Sport 24 Exta – the IMG-owned channels that are produced exclusively for airlines and cruise ships.

The agreement will also include content from the Olympic Channel, which IMG will be able to licence to airlines and cruise ships to be shown on Sport 24.

Sport 24 is currently available across 12 different airlines and nine cruise lines. The channel also shows action from football’s English Premier League and German Bundesliga, as well as the NFL American football league, Major League Baseball, the NBA basketball league, MotoGP, Uefa European football competitions, all four golf majors and all four tennis grand slams.

IMG also worked with the IOC to offer live coverage of the Sochi 2014 winter Games and the Rio 2016 summer Olympics to in-flight and in-ship audiences.